Questions tagged [sutras]
A type of literary composition in of varying length. In Buddhism this mostly refers to canonical texts. Sutras is a Sanskrit term however the Pali term sutta is often used by certain traditions. The two terms are equivalent.
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Stages of Compassion in Mahayana
Dear friends, I am looking for references pertaining to the notion of the Four Stages of Compassion in the Mahayana traditions.
Thank you for your kind and generous help, may you all be well and safe.
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Relaxation vs Laziness
In karniyametta sutta, Lord Buddha advised us to be relaxed and not to cling to the work.
How can I recognise relaxation from laziness ?
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Does the Buddha deny genetic differences?
In MN.98, the Buddha seems to deny the ethnic/racial/genetic differences between humans. He seems to indicate that differences in physical traits between individuals are not determined by birth as in ...
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How do you understand the Cakkavatti Sutta?
https://suttacentral.net/dn26/en/sujato
How could humans have lived 80 000 years in the past? And how could we live 10 years in the future, with people reaching sexual maturity at five, when life ...
- 808
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How can we correlate Buddhist cosmology with astronomical cosmology?
How can we correlate Buddhist cosmology with astronomical cosmology? Basically I have following questions.
Moon is considered 51 yojan in height and 50 is the sun. Sun is self illuminated and heat is ...
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The Practice of Giving: How to Practice Giving "Thusly"?
In the Diamond Sutra (or Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra) Buddha says to Subhuti:
a Bodhisattva should not dwell anywhere when he gives. He should not dwell in forms when he gives, nor should he dwell ...
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Are monks expected to accept life lessons from (time spent with) the laity?
In general, the monks are expected to preach the Dhamma and the laity should listen. But "behind the scenes", so to say, should monks really be learning from at least some situations they run into ...
- 299
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What are other peoples minds according to the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra?
I read that everything is just my own mind from the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra. If everything is my own mind, what about other peoples minds? Are they also my own mind? How can this be understood?
For ...
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What is bhramcharya or 3rd percept? [duplicate]
Is it only pertaining to "no adultery" for layman or as "no sex" for monk?
If such is the case, why in ganika sutta it was mentioned as "path middle to celibacy and adultery" for ganika(female ...
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If Buddha had unconditional love, why did he "kill" some of his monks?
I recall there is a sutta where the Buddha said he "kills" some monks, that is, completely ignores them or something similar.
Is this contrary to metta (unconditonal love)?
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Are there suttas that recommend a specific order of the buddhist practices?
Every now and then i see claims that a particular practice of the noble eightfold path (or alternatively, the threefold division) builds on a specific preceding practice.
Two examples of claims (...
user11699
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What could be some teachings that Buddha has not revealed to us?
In Maha-parinibbana Sutta Buddha has said:
"there is nothing, Ananda, with regard to the teachings that the
Tathagata holds to the last with the closed fist of a teacher who
keeps some things ...
- 305
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Soul that transmigrates?
In Timsa Sutta Buddha says:
"What do you think, monks? Which is greater, the blood you have shed from having your heads cut off while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time, or the water ...
- 305
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Who was the King Okkāka mentioned in Sutta Nipāta?
I have come across the following verse from Sutta Nipāta (verse 305 - P.104) mentioned by Buddha.
Then they composed some Vedic hymns and went chanting to Okkāka king:
“Great your wealth and ...
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What are the Wikipedia Pages for these Kangyur titles
Not knowing Tibetan or having access to a wide array of sources, I am using the (Tibetan script) Kangyur from these. The table of contents is here pretty much. After converting their Excel file to a ...
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The World • It Disintegrates
Friends, I am looking for a sutta from the Pali Canon wherein the Buddha, expounding the nature of the world, goes somewhat like this :
And what is the world ? That which disintegrates is the ...
- 567
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Question about the Samādhirāja-sūtra
I have a similar question about the Samādhirāja-sūtra.
Is the Samādhirāja-sūtra, a mahAyAnA sUtra or does it occur in the nikAyas or somewhere else? What is the historically accepted date of this ...
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Question about the Pitāpūtrasamāgama-sūtra
Is the pitāpūtrasamāgama-sūtra, a Mahayana sutra or does it occur in the nikayas or somewhere else? What is the historically accepted date of this sutra? Does this sutra precede Nagarjuna or is it a ...
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Literal translation of Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra
What is the literal meaning of Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra. Everywhere I read it says "The Perfection of Wisdom in 8000 Lines", but that is not a literal translation as far as I can tell. What ...
- 551
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Is regret worth?
Today I regret for a sparrow was wandering around running ceiling fan.
Even I had noticed and think to turn it off but I forget.
I don't care if it was my bad karma which is not important than ...
- 2,164
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Neither standing nor swimming, I crossed the flood
From the Crossing the Flood Sutta below, we read that the Buddha said that he crossed the flood (i.e. of suffering, of clinging to the world), neither by standing still, nor by struggling (or swimming)...
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A question regarding Buddhist world view and sense organs and their objects
I have recently started reading about Buddhism and I wonder what the world view of Buddhism is -- is it the world view that there is not one world as we think, and instead we each have our own world? ...
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How can the sixth channel of dhatus be understood?
Could someone help clarifying the sixth channel of the eighteen dhatus - that is - the mental objects (dharma-dhatu), the mental faculty (mano-dhatu) and the mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna-dhatu)...
user11699
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How to interpret "cessation"?
Throughout the suttas, we find the following stock passage:
"Now from the remainderless fading & cessation of that very ignorance comes the cessation of fabrications. From the cessation of ...
- 2,104
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Meaning of the Rooted Sutta
From the Rooted Sutta (AN 10.58) we have the following paragraph translated by Bhikkhu Sujato.
What does it mean? What are "things" or "phenomena" in this context? Please explain the whole paragraph.
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To reach 1st jhana, do we have to let go, or do we have to put some effort?
Recently, I've been reading a lot about the different methods and perspectives for reaching the jhanas.
For a long time, the only method I've been using is to "let go" everything, and to use the ...
- 2,104
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Did the Buddha ever refute the view of "extreme metaphysical nihilism" e.g. a view that "nothing is real"?
Important note: I am only using the word "real" only in the sense of meaning "exists and is not an illusion".
I am defining "extreme metaphysical nihilism" as the belief that "nothing is real".
I ...
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SN 22.62: What is meant by "scope of language"?
What is the message of this sutta?
At Sāvatthī.
“Mendicants, there are these three scopes of language, terminology,
and descriptions. They’re uncorrupted, as they have been since the
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The World and Five Aggregates of Clinging
As I've heard, the "world" referred by Buddha (mentioned in the Loka Sutta and in Samyutta Nikaya - 4 -> LokaSamudaya Sutta) is the same as "Five Aggregates of Clinging" (Five-Updana-Skandas).
That's ...
- 688
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How & why can sexual intentions be harmful to others?
MN 19 says:
And as I remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued
with sensuality arose in me. I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with
sensuality has arisen in me; and that ...
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In which suttas does The Buddha cover annihilationism (ucchedavāda)?
Given what I assume was the predominant view of the time, I would not be surprised if there are many Suttas that deal explicitly with resurrection (as opposed to rebirth which seems to be a more ...
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Is there a real difference between "not-self" and "no self", and if so, which one is correct?
Just in case someone is interested, this is a question based on this thread, but it's not necessary to read such discussion to understand and answer this question.
I'd like to know about the ...
- 2,104
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Does any sutta talk about the right conditions for teaching the Dhamma?
I've read in other posts (such as this one) about the right way to teach the Dhamma.
But is there a way to know about the "when", i.e. when to reach out someone else to teach the Dhamma?
In specific,...
- 2,104
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Majjhima Nikaya 152 Indriyabhāvana Sutta
In this sutta, the Buddha teaches how different people should approach sense-restraint. Here, the enlightened ones can perceive objects in a different light (positively, negatively or dwelling in ...
- 2,560
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Is there really a story in the Pali Canon about a layman running away from home AFTER having attained arahantship?
Today I stumbled upon a thread on Reddit. Deep down in the comments, I saw someone make the following claim:
My personal opinion is probably they [lay arahants] will run away from society and die ...
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Reference for the teaching of not-self
I have heard in the past a kind of argument to show that there is no self along the lines of: are you your body? No, your cells regenerate all the time. Are you your emotions? No, they come and go. ...
- 113
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Is it possible for absolutely everyone to attain enlightenment?
As seen in the title of this question, I'm not sure whether everyone is able to attain enlightenment.
As far as my study and introspective analysis have shown to me, it seems that in order to uproot ...
- 2,104
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Which sutras are most directly relevant to the virtue of courage?
If I want to read through the origins of western (really, Greek) thought about the virtue we generally call courage, I know exactly where to go: Laches, Republic, Nicomachean Ethics, etc. Meanwhile, ...
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Sutta request: dedication of offerings in another ones name
This is a request for sutta references.
I'd like to know the sutta's that describe how one can dedicate offerings in the name of a dearly departed one so that (s)he can, hopefully, have a better ...
user13579
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What is meant by "No limiting action remains there"? MN 99
In the discourse on the four Divine Abodes, what is meant by "... no limiting action remains there, none persists there."
Here a bhikkhu abides pervading one quarter with a mind imbued with
...
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Is divination for fun acceptable?
I recently read an answer on here referencing a sutra that states "animal arts" such as performing any form of divination constitutes wrong livelihood which should be abstained from. What I'm ...
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Sutta references
I have read a sutta where the Buddha says that there are elements from other religions in his dharma and certain elements from his dharma in other religions as well.
I'm looking for that sutta.
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What's the relation between feelings of neither-pleasure-nor-pain and ignorance?
I often see in some suttas that there are some habitual tendencies that, after the arising of pleasent feeling or painful feelings, lead to suffering due to passion for the pleasure and aversion for ...
- 2,104
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Comparing Chinese Agama the ? Bundles of Reeds Simile with Pali Nalakalapiyo Sutta
In commenting a post, I have just been introduced to the "two bundles of reeds leaning up against each other" Sutta. The comments have just been moved to chat and I hope it would be kept for awhile ...
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Recommendation for Suttas
I have been practising Vipassana for quite a while (2 and half years). Now, I want to also dwell into the teachings of Buddha as presented in Suttas and apply those teaching in my everday life. I have ...
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Buddhism on We are all one
As explained here Buddhism does no belong into pantheism because God can be interpreted no as oneness but a creation of the mind as the fourth aggregate explains (eg. "an invisible man who lives in ...
user2428
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What religious texts would help me understand the fundamentals Buddhism better? [duplicate]
I was raised in an area where the usual answer to the question of what Buddhism is was "I don't know, hippy stuff", and any religion outside Christianity was considered "the work of Satan".
That said,...
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I'm looking for the translation of the Dharmaskanda Sutra
Where can I get the English translation of the Dharmaskanda Sutra or at least the original text?
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What does 'Not percipient of form internally' in Salayatana Sutta mean?
In the Salayatana Sutta in the last paragraph it says;
Not percipient of form internally, he/she sees forms externally. This is the second direction.
What does this mean? Does it mean you do not ...
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I'm looking for a sutta which mentions nationalism
I remember a sutta which uses the word "nationalism" in reference to a taint to be removed. It was the last in a certain sequence of taints. I think i read it on access to insight.
However, when i ...
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